A laundry treating apparatus may be classified as a washing or drying machine for washing or drying laundry or a laundry refreshing machine for refreshing laundry. Here, refreshing laundry means the removal of moisture from the laundry, the removal of wrinkles or rumples from the laundry, the removal of static electricity from the laundry, or the removal of a smell from the laundry and the addition of perfume.
A drying machine is an electric home appliance that dries washed laundry, for example, washed clothes, using high-temperature air. Generally, the drying machine includes a drum for receiving an object to be dried, a drive source for driving the drum, a heating unit for heating air to be introduced into the drum, and a blower unit for suctioning or discharging air into or out of the drum.
Based on how to heat air, i.e., the type of the heating unit, the drying machine may be classified as an electric drying machine or a gas drying machine. The electric drying machine heats air using electric resistance heat. The gas drying machine heats air using heat generated by the combustion of gas.
In addition, the drying machine may be classified as a condensation type drying machine or a discharge type drying machine. In the condensation type drying machine, air, heat-exchanged with an object to be dried in a drum and changed into a high-humidity phase, is circulated without discharging the air out of the drying machine. Heat exchange is performed between an additional condenser and external air to produce condensed water, which is discharged out of the drying machine.
In the discharge type drying machine, air, heat-exchanged with an object to be dried in a drum and changed into a high-humidity phase, is directly discharged out of the drying machine. Based on how to put laundry in the drying machine, the drying machine may be classified as a top loading type drying machine or a front loading type drying machine. In the top loading type drying machine, an object to be dried is put in the drying machine from above. In the front loading type drying machine, an object to be dried is put in the drying machine from the front.
However, the conventional laundry treating apparatus with the above-stated construction has the following problems.
Generally, laundry, which has been already washed and spin-dried, is put in a drying machine such that the laundry is dried by the drying machine. However, the water-washed laundry is wrinkled according to the principle of water washing, and the wrinkles on the laundry are not completely removed during the drying process performed by the drying machine. Consequently, an additional ironing process is needed to remove wrinkles on a dried object, i.e., laundry which has been already dried by the conventional drying machine.
Furthermore, when clothes as well as washed laundry are normally stored and used, the clothes and the washed laundry may be wrinkled, crumpled, or folded (hereinafter, generally referred to as “wrinkled”). Consequently, there is a high necessity for an apparatus that is capable of easily and conveniently removing wrinkles on clothes during the normal use and storage of the clothes.